Understanding the North Branch/North Shore (Reach 1)
About the Project
The Chicago River System has evolved since the launch of the Our Great Rivers initiative. To determine if Chicago is reducing barriers to the good life and fostering shared prosperity for its residents and business all along the river system, this evaluation notes how the system and its surrounding communities have changed over time. Consistent with the project structure, the findings are organized into the themes of inviting, productive, and living.
About the Approach
The Our Great Rivers project considers the Chicago River System as six distinct areas, or ‘reaches.’ The following analysis shares demographic, socioeconomic, community development, and ecological data and trends between approximately 2015 and 2025 to detail transformations along or near the river system.
In the Current
Want to get to know a catalytic project and leader bringing the vision of Our Great Rivers to life in Reach 1? To learn more about an initiative creating lasting benefits for local communities and the river system, explore a story of transformation: River Park.
A Glimpse Into Reach 1: the North Branch/North Shore
Where is this reach located?
The North Branch/North Shore of the Chicago River is a reach that extends for 10.5 miles from Lawrence Avenue on the southern end and Chicago’s border on the northern end. The reach touches seven community areas including: Lincoln Square, Albany Park, North Park, West Ridge, Forest Glen, Norwood Park, and Jefferson Park.
What are the main characteristics of this reach?
This reach weaves its way through busy neighborhood streets and natural spaces alike, like LaBagh Woods and Gompers Park. The North Shore Channel runs through a number of parks as well, like River Park and Legion Park.
What’s rising to the surface in this reach?
The key findings and trends of this reach show a nuanced story about this reach – and our river system as a whole. The North Branch/North Shore reach has seen notable public investments that have increased accessibility in the reach with trails, open space, and improved ecological habitat. The reach is also seeing population growth and a reduction in vacancy rates. There is an opportunity to build on access and restoration gains over the last decade while continuing to mitigate stormwater runoff and sewage overflow, improve natural habitat for wildlife, support local businesses, and ensure that rising property values do not undermine affordability.
MPC developed data points to characterize changes along Chicago’s River System between approximately 2015-2025. This page gives a general overview of the ways the area surrounding this reach has, or has not, transformed. For more in-depth data, further analysis, and the sources used for this research, view the complete data sets at the link below.
Increasing
Decreasing
Same or similar
Good
Fair
Poor
How has the area changed over time?
2014-2022
Demographics
This reach saw an increase in overall population of 4%, which was more than the population increase for the city as a whole. The population change was driven mainly by an increase in the Asian population, which increased by almost 16% (an increase of nearly 1,900 new Asian residents).
There were less significant changes for other demographic groups in river tracts. The Black population decreased by 6% along the river, the Latinx population increased by 1%, and the white population decreased by less than 1%.
These population trends were unique to river tracts. By comparison, river adjacent tracts, which give insight into general neighborhood trends, saw a notable increase in Latinx and Black residents (an increase of roughly 6,500 and 1,000, respectively). Contrastingly to river tracts, the Asian population was relatively stable and the white population decreased in adjacent tracts.
Socioeconomics
Household income increased at a slightly slower rate (39%) in river tracts than in adjacent tracts (45%) and citywide (49%). Rents increased at a slightly higher rate in river tracts (43%) than adjacent tracts (38%).
At $411,000, the median home value along the river in the North Branch/North Shore reach is notably higher than adjacent tracts ($370,000) and citywide ($329,000). However, between 2014 and 2022, the median home value increased by 25%, which is a lower rate than in adjacent tracts and citywide, where home values increased by 37%.
Inviting Rivers Data
How has the area become more, or less, inviting?
Land Use
Single family land use predominates the North Branch/North Shore reach, composing 47% of the land in river tracts in this reach. Single family land use declined by 2.6 percentage points in river tracts between 2010 and 2020, which was a decrease of 105 acres of single family uses. Open space is the next most common land use in this reach, making up 14% of the land along the river.
About 70 acres of open space were added to the area between 2010 and 2020. Much of the open space in this area is privately owned, but some is accessible for public use. Industrial uses make up just 2% of the land use, significantly less than the 17% average share of land dedicated to industry across all river reaches citywide.
Physical Improvements and Access Points
The North Branch/North Shore has extensive trail access, with 98% of its river edge containing a trail. The trails have been made more accessible along this reach over time. Through the USEPA’s Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Restoration program, the Chicago Park District and the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) restored the river edge in River Park on the southern end of the reach. This opened up the existing paved trail so that trail users could have more direct access to the river. This included removing fencing that blocked the view of the river, creating a naturalized river edge with native plants, and a mulch walking path closer to the river. The Park District also added more boat storage covered in murals that feature native wildlife and an accessible boat launch to the park. An Our Great Rivers grantee project, funded by the Chicago Community Trust and led by the North River Commission, leveraged funds from the Lawrence/Kedzie TIF District to make additional improvements to River Park and Ronan Park. A significant outcome from that project is a new public plaza that is under construction as of 2025 in the Lawrence Avenue entrance to Ronan Park that leveraged funds from the Lawrence/Kedzie TIF District.
Productive Rivers Data
How has the reach become more, or less, productive?
Office, Industrial, and Multifamily Development
The average sale price per square foot for office, industrial, and multifamily property along the river in this reach is $40 higher than the city average at $171.50 per square foot. Rental costs, on the other hand, are $10 lower than the city average at about $16 per square foot.
This reach saw the greatest decrease in vacant office, industrial, and multifamily property units across the reaches with an 11 percentage point decrease between 2015 and 2025.
Vacancy
In the North Branch/North Shore reach, vacant parcels, meaning lots with no development, decreased by 17%, or 23 total parcels between 2014 and 2022. Tracts adjacent to the riverfront tracts saw a 1% increase in vacant parcels, meaning the decrease in vacancy along the river is distinct from broader neighborhood trends in this area.
Jobs and Businesses
Jobs increased by 11% in river tracts in this reach between 2012 and 2021, but this is a lower rate of increase than in adjacent tracts, indicating job growth was somewhat slower along the river than in other parts of the neighborhoods near this reach.
Unlike with jobs, businesses declined across the board, however, the number of businesses declined at a faster rate (35%) in river tracts than in adjacent tracts (23%), following citywide trends.
Living Rivers Data
How has this reach become more, or less, living?
Water Quality
Chicago has a combined sewer system, meaning that sewage and stormwater from rainfall and melting snow enters the same pipe system. When this system is overwhelmed, the combined sewage and stormwater is emptied directly into our river system, polluting the river and increasing the risk of flooding. This emptying of sewage and stormwater into the river system is called a combined sewer overflow (CSO). The North Branch/North Shore reach had 475 CSO events between 2016 and 2021. The number of CSO events, however, has declined over time with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s (MWRD) efforts in the Tunnel and Reservoir Plan (TARP), that built large, deep tunnels and reservoirs that store stormwater and sewage until it can be treated, mitigating CSO events. The TARP reservoir that affects this reach is the McCook Reservoir. The first stage of the McCook Reservoir began operations in 2017. It is located between the Des Plaines River and Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Bedford Park, and captures stormwater along the Des Plaines River, Salt Creek, Addison Creek, and the Chicago River from the North Branch and North Shore Channel, through the Main Steam, South Branch, Bubbly Creek, to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. This first stage of the McCook reservoir was designed to contain up to 3.5 billion gallons. The second stage, set to be completed in 2032, has capacity for an additional 6.5 billion gallons. The tunnels and reservoirs built under TARP have played a major role in reducing CSOs in Chicago’s water system over time. The number of CSOs notably declined across all Chicago river reaches and the Des Plaines reach after the McCook Reservoir became operational in 2017.
In 2021, the North Branch/North Shore reach did not experience any CSO events. CSO events are complex: the severity of each event depends on the location, amount of impervious surfaces that exacerbate runoff, weather conditions, and other factors. Our region has not seen a complete elimination of CSO events, and some years continue to see more severe CSOs than others. It is important to continue to make ongoing efforts to reduce stormwater runoff and mitigate CSO events, as the effects of climate change, such as the heavy rainfall events we saw in the summer of 2026, continue to pose pollution and flooding challenges to the Chicago region.
The biodiversity of the Chicago river system’s fish population has come a long way. In the 1970s, there were fewer than 10 species of fish in our river system. Today, thanks to decades of habitat restoration and advocacy from organizations highlighted throughout this website and beyond, there are more than 80 recorded species. The fish diversity is limited in the North Branch/North Shore reach compared to the other river reaches. There were just four different species recorded annually on average between 2016 and 2021. Fish move throughout the river system, and the number of recorded species in a given reach provide only a snapshot in time based on when the data was collected. However, the limited number of fish species counted in this reach may be due in part to a dam that was located in the North Branch near the intersection of the North Branch and the North Shore Channel in River Park. Dams block fish from moving upstream to spawn and find food, and slow-moving water creates a warmer, low oxygen environment. The dam also made the stretch impassable by paddlers. Under the USEPA’s Great Lakes Fisheries and Ecosystem Restoration program in 2018, the Park District and the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) removed the dam. This effort also involved large scale river edge restoration, establishing a more natural and resilient river edge along the North Branch in River Park, and improving the overall ecology of the reach.
Open Space
The North Branch/North Shore reach has the second highest proportion of open space along the river of all the city’s river reaches, with 14% of land along the river dedicated to open space. The amount of open space increased between 2010 and 2020 by nearly 70 acres.
Explore the research on other reaches in the Chicago River System below.
Visit river reach pages:
View the complete data sets for each of the river reaches:
Learn more about Our Great Rivers and this Understanding Our Rivers evaluation project.
Methodology
Research Approach
This project examined how areas (census tracts) along the river changed over time, from approximately 2015 to 2025. Data related to demographic, socioeconomic, development, and ecological changes, were compiled to understand how areas along the river transformed over the decade. Trends/variables included:
- Population changes by racial and ethnic group
- Rent and home value changes
- Job, business, and vacancy rate changes
- Land uses
- Trails and access points
- Community projects and activations
- Fish diversity
In addition to breaking down the river geography at the citywide and “reach”-level scale, we examined data by census tracts based on their proximity to the river:
- River tracts: Census tracts that touch a river in the city of Chicago
- River adjacent tracts: Tracts that touch the “river tracts.” Data in these tracts act as a proxy to the nearby neighborhood in order to differentiate general neighborhood trends from findings that are unique to tracts that directly abut the river.
Research Questions
For each data area, we asked the following questions, which allow for a nuanced look at how river areas have developed, when compared to other parts of the city:
- How do trends/changes compare across specific river areas (aka “reaches”)?
- How do trends/changes along the river (aka “river tracts”) compare to changes in areas immediately adjacent to river census tracts (aka “river adjacent tracts”, which are the comparison groups)?
- How do trends/changes along the river compare to changes across the city as a whole (all city census tracts)?
Sources
All sources for this research are listed on the Data Set Factsheets available on each reach page.
Authors
This evaluation project was produced by the MPC staff listed below. It was also developed and supported by Christina Harris, Alec Singer, and Kate Mackie.
